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What is your favourite magic system in the cosmere?


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I love Surgebinding due to its complexity as a magic system, method of acquisition (it's based on merit rather than something some people just have), personalization (the Orders!) and how the spren remind me of dæmons from His Dark Materials. It just offers so much: boost in strength & stamina, healing, a weapon, armor, companionship with your spren, a chance to meet like-minded people within your Order

I also love Forgery because of its complexity and the idea of reality hacking 

I like Hemalurgy because of how menacing it is, and how costly it is. Also, stealing part of someone's Spiritweb just sounds so badass.

I don't really like BioChroma. You can't really do much with your own Breath except to give it up. Many, many others have to give something up, something that is almost inherent to them, in order for the magic system to be usable. Only after acquiring a lot of Breaths does one get access to perks like the Heightenings and is able to access the magic system of Awakening, and the number of Breaths involved to get there just doesn't sit right with me (Yeah, I know, this view is quite contradictory with my views on Hemalurgy, which also requires harm to others but this just hits closer and feels more "real" to me somehow). I don't really like the idea of Returning either, becoming kinda like a vampire, subsisting off of people's Breaths, with the sword hanging over your head that your dying (again, I might add) could do more good for the world than you continuing to exist. That's just messed up. Also, the Lifeless, that's just necromancy

Edited by R J
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Allomancy is the best for fight scenes.

Feruchemy would be the most practical in real life.

But Surgebinding is my favorite. It's a magic system that grants powers through character development. The most ingenious magic system for story-telling imaginable. It's beautiful! 

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Most powerful: Allowance

Most practical: Feruchemy

Coolest: Surgebinding

Most interesting: Awakening.  

I picture Awakening in Warbreaker to be the equivalent of 1970s computer science.  Once the Commands get figured out...wow, what might be possible?  Imagine an Awakened supercomputer with the Command "Discover new Commands".  This system just seems to have less limits on possibilities than any system besides AonDor.

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1 hour ago, Brgst13 said:

Most powerful: Allowance

  1. It's allomancy
  2. That's wrong Brandon has said a Feruchemist would most likely win in a fight, and Surgebinders have a higher power output

I like reading about Surgebinding the most,

but I would pick Feruchemy any day.

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16 minutes ago, Brgst13 said:

damnation autocorrect!  I hadn't seen that WoB yet.  I still think Awakening is the more flexible system.

The surgebinder greater output should have been put separately that was my bad it was observation Brandon said the Feruchemy thing though

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My favorite is surgebinding, more specifically Windrunning. I like Allomancy, and Feruchemy sounds like the most useful for everyday use. AonDor is cool, but it would take so much practice to learn, so I wouldn't really want it that much. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I would say feruchamy, definitely. I am a student, and the number of times I have thought to myself "wow, it would be great to store this info in a coppermind and get it out at test time. Also, I have thought about reading a great book, dumping it into a metalmind, and then reading it again. Finally, the sheer number of things you can use it for... Determination, Identity, strength, speed, mental speed, eyesight the list goes on 

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The one that I most want to know more about is ClayShan, since I have always been fascinated by martial arts and it seems to be magical martial arts.

But in terms of which one I would most like to have, it has to be feruchemy. As someone who has suffered from insomnia for years, being able to store wakefulness in a bronzemind would be a game changer. The other feruchemical powers would be really useful in everyday life, too. Never being too hot or too cold again by tapping or storing a brassmind, and of course storing everything you need for school in a coppermind so that you remember everything on the test (and also not completely forget everything after the test). Zincminds would also be helpful. I could slow down my mind when I'm trying to get to sleep, and then have a sharper mind when I need it. Basically I just really want access to the cognitive powers of feruchemy.

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I really enjoy all of the Cosmere's magic systems. I think that Brandon's intricate magic systems are a major draw to his stories.

However, if I had to pick a favourite, it would probably be surgebinding. As some people have already mentioned, I like how it is quite possibly Brandon's most intricate magic system yet, and how it is closely linked to character development. However, what I think really hooked me was the prologue of The Way of Kings. To this day it is my favourite prologue, and was one of the contributing factors to why tWoK is my favourite Sanderson novel.

Honourable mention must go to Allomancy, though. I would love to see it adapted to television or film.  

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The selish magic systems just sound like way to much work. I am not normally a lazy person, but I don't think the abilities granted by AonDor or Forging are worth the time you would have to spend practicing to get the shape just right.

So on that note I would definitely choose feruchemy. I think it is one of the coolest to read about because of the way it uses Sanderson's 2nd law. The limits of having to store the attributes before using them make the magic so interesing. But also like people have been saying it would just be one of the best ones to have for practical uses.

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On 5/19/2020 at 10:00 PM, Karger said:

Fabrails.  It seems way past time someone put together a decent hard magic system for a varied set of magic items.

Maybe you would like the alchemy magic I have going, be several years before publication becomes vaiable though.

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1 hour ago, Frustration said:

Maybe you would like the alchemy magic I have going, be several years before publication becomes vaiable though.

I would.  If you have anything on it feel free to share I will be interested.

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